A dream is a wish your heart makes

It has been said that, “a dream is a wish your heart makes,” but even I don’t believe my heart could have wished to be where it is today 2 years ago. Two years since I began my stumbling into the world of the online Disney community and began mumbling my thoughts, perspectives, words of (what some might call, if they were being polite) wisdom, as well as chronicling the details and history of Walt Disney World in a little publication called the Main Street Gazette.

To put the past two years into perspective, I was not married to my extraordinarily wonderful and supportive wife two years ago. Two years ago I had not yet made many of the very dear friends I talk to, or think about, each and every day (I am not going to list names here as I would surely forget someone and that just would not do), and I had not met the man who would become my closest and dearest friend. Two years ago I had not yet had the pleasure of meeting, talking with, and becoming good friends with the man who would become not only a close friend, but my mentor. Two years ago my brother-in-law was still with us and my sister wanted to plan a trip for him to Walt Disney World, as he had never been, before his cancer became too much, a trip we never were able to make. Two years ago, odds are, a majority of you, my faithful readers, did not know my name. Two years ago I had yet to record a podcast or work on articles for Celebrations Magazine. Two years ago, my office was not yet overrun (though it was brimming) with postcards, paper, photographs, figures, signs, books, and other memorabilia from Disney.

Two years ago I started a little blog named the Main Street Gazette in the hopes of sharing some of the history, ideas, knowledge, and tips that have inundated my brain since I was a small child growing up in the loops of Fort Wilderness and the corners of France, Frontierland, Tomorrowland, and Future World. Since that time I have been overwhelmed by the amount of support and encouragement I have found in the community, I have spoken with, and had the pleasure of listening to, people I could have only dreamed of, and I have received a multitude, and more than my due, of praise from those of you who have loved the Gazette. But the Main Street Gazette has not been my gift to you, rather your continued support and readership, kind comments, and astonishing and unexpected letters have been your gifts to me.

Thank you to my friends, readers, and loved ones for making the last two years more than I could have ever dreamed or wished for. Thank you for listening to my blathering for the past two years, I hope I can continue to repay, in some small part, the gifts you have bestowed on me for many more years to come.